Zhu Chenhao

Zhu Chenhao (1 July 1476 – 13 January 1521), art name Weitian, was a prince of the Ming dynasty, being a fifth-generation descendant of Zhu Quan, the seventeenth son of the founder and first emperor of the dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor. In 1499, he inherited the title of Prince of Ning and resided in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi. However, in July 1519, he started a rebellion by declaring the then Zhengde Emperor illegitimate and marching on Nanjing. Wang Yangming, governor of southern Jiangxi, quickly raised an army and occupied Nanchang. In August 1519, he crushed the rebel army, forcing them to retreat to the south. During the battle, Zhu Chenhao was captured and sentenced to death, but the emperor later commuted his sentence to suicide.

Biography

Prince of Ning

Zhu Chenhao was the fifth-generation descendant of Zhu Quan, the first Prince of Ning and the seventeenth son of the Hongwu Emperor. His father, Zhu Jinjun (; 1449–1497), was the Prince of Shanggao () and later of Ning (). In 1494, Zhu Chenhao succeeded his father as the Prince of Shanggao, and in 1499, he became the Prince of Ning.

The first Prince of Ning, Zhu Quan, was the seventeenth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder and first emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was a skilled general, stationed in the frontier town of Daning north of the Great Wall of China. However, during the civil war, the rebellious prince and later emperor Yongle relocated him to Beijing due to concerns about his loyalty. Eventually, he was moved again to Nanchang in the southern province of Jiangxi, where the Princes of Ning resided for the remainder of the 15th century. During the Tianshun era (1457–1464), the prince lost the right to his guard.

He was not a warrior; on the contrary, he enjoyed a life of luxury and had some literary talents. However, his main focus was on social advancement and he was driven by ambition.

In his pursuit of military strength, he first aimed to rebuild his guard and secure the necessary funds. He achieved this in 1507 by bribing the eunuch Liu Jin, who effectively controlled the Beijing government at the time, despite opposition from the Ministry of War. However, after Liu Jin's downfall in 1510, Zhu Chenhao lost his soldiers once again.

In 1514, he once again requested for troops, this time with the backing of Lu Wan (1458–1526), the new Minister of War since December 1513 and a long-time political ally. However, his request was thwarted by Fei Hong (1468–1535), the Grand Secretary who was aware of the prince's intentions. Despite this obstacle, the prince managed to gain support from Qian Ning, the commander of the imperial guard, Zang Xian (), the emperor's favorite musician, and several influential eunuchs. Finally, in April 1514, he was granted permission to proceed with his plans.

Meanwhile, the local authorities had been voicing their complaints about the prince's behavior, which included seizing land, imposing taxes, and intimidating officials. In January 1514, even the Nanjing censors officially lodged a complaint to Beijing. However, their efforts were in vain. In April 1514, a commissioner tasked with fighting bandits in Jiangxi reported that the root of the problem was the prince himself. He was accused of both employing bandits and driving people off their land, thus creating more bandits. However, the Minister of War dismissed the report as slanderous and it was disregarded.

The minister even supported the prince's requests for authority over local garrisons and members of the imperial family. The Zhengde Emperor was pleased with the prince's initiative and approved his requests, while dismissing the officials' criticism as slander. As a result, the prince began to hire soldiers and bandits, and even started to act like a monarch, referring to himself as an emperor. Despite the fact that princes were typically punished severely for even minor offenses, the prince's behavior was overlooked.

In his pursuit of power, he attempted a non-violent approach by exploiting the emperor's lack of an heir and promoting his own son as the successor to the throne. In the spring of 1516, Zhu resorted to bribery, persuading Qian and other influential members of the emperor's entourage to bring his eldest son to Beijing as a potential crown prince. However, his efforts proved to be fruitless.

In May 1517, a group of eunuchs from his household went to Beijing to report on his illegal activities. However, Qian Ning imprisoned them. The prince then focused on armed rebellion. With his support, bandits plundered the countryside and intimidated the authorities. They even attacked the household of former Grand Secretary Fei Hong, who was now living in eastern Jiangxi. Following Fei's complaint, the government sent Sun Sui (''jinshi'' 1493) to Nanchang, where he was appointed governor and charged with suppressing violence. In 1518, Sun Sui captured several bandits and imprisoned them in Nanchang. However, fearing their statements, the prince ordered his men to attack the city and free the prisoners, causing the authorities to lose control over the countryside. In the spring of 1519, Sun Sui wrote yet another report about the prince's betrayal and rebellion, but received no response. The prince had refrained from open rebellion thus far, hoping that the childless emperor would appoint his son as crown prince.

Rebellion

The Zhengde Emperor only became aware of the problem with the Prince of Ning in the summer of 1519. It was during this time that his favorite general, Jiang Bin, and the eunuch, Zhang Yong, convinced him of the prince's and Qian Ning's misconduct. The prince had been informed by his spies in Beijing about unfavorable developments, and on 10 July 1519, he openly rebelled in Nanchang. He declared that the Zhengde Emperor was an impostor and not a member of the imperial family, and that the empress had ordered his dethronement. However, when the officials present, led by Governor Sun Sui, demanded to see the empress's decree, they were not given one. As a result, they declared the prince a traitor and were subsequently executed.

The prince led his army north from Nanchang and reached Jiujiang on 13 July. From there, they began the siege of Anqing, a prefectural seat located 150 miles from Nanjing, on 23 July. However, the majority of the prince's forces did not depart until 26 July.

On 14 July, Wang Yangming, the governor of southern Jiangxi, was informed of the rebellion and quickly began assembling his own army. He also spread false information that a large imperial army had been dispatched from Beijing.

On 9 August, the prince's main forces finally arrived at Anqing, but their attempt to capture the city failed and resulted in heavy losses. The prince was enraged, questioning how such an army could hope to conquer Nanjing. Meanwhile, Wang Yangming gathered his own army and marched towards Nanchang. Due to the majority of the prince's forces having withdrawn to the north, the city was weakly defended, and on 14 August, Wang Yangming successfully occupied it. The prince then returned south with his main forces, but on 20 August, in the river battle at Lake Poyang, Wang Yangming's army emerged victorious and captured the prince.

In captivity

In October 1519, the emperor departed from Beijing and headed south. He arrived in Nanjing in mid-January 1520 and stayed there for eight months. The troops that accompanied the emperor from the north, under the command of his confidants, Jiang Bin and eunuch Zhang Yong, were sent to Jiangxi to suppress the rebellion. Jiang and Zhang attempted to sabotage Wang Yangming's success by planning a fake battle in which the prince would be "captured" by the emperor. However, Wang Yangming refused to participate and instead handed over the captives to Zhang Yong, who was in charge of military affairs in Hangzhou.

Zhu Chenhao was stripped of all his ranks and titles as early as 1519, but the decision on his fate was not made until January 1521, when the emperor allowed him to commit suicide. However, his body was burned as punishment.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Chenhao
1476 births
1521 deaths
Ming dynasty imperial princes
Ming dynasty rebels
Executed people from Jiangxi
Executed Chinese royalty
Rebel princes
16th-century executions by China